Bridge Over Troubled Water
by Cheshiremask
Summary: Warnings generally come with a back story. So do most paranoias. Some of us should listen a little better than we do. PG-13.


_Author's Note: This is a piece I wrote for the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme some time ago. I realized just now that I didn't have a copy of it for myself, and I decided to track it down and save it, and then, because I'm in a bit of a slump and because I thought it might be appreciated, I decided to post it here. It used to be called "Falling from Grace", but I figured it needed a bit of a title change...still sort of cliche, but fun anyways~!. Hopefully you guys like it!_

* * *

At first, Apollo hadn't really thought that the trip would be a good idea. _Now_, however, he was forced to re-evaluate his position.

When Mr. Wright had suggested that Apollo join them on the Wright Family Summer Trip, he had been more than apprehensive. He'd heard a few stories about Trucy's "Auntie Maya" and "Cousin Pearly", and, quite frankly, he had wondered if he really _wanted_ to meet them, but then Trucy had begged, and he'd ended up agreeing like he always did.

Trucy had spent the entire trip telling Apollo about how wonderful Hazakura Temple was - Mr. Wright had called it some kind of "spiritual halfway point", something that Apollo hadn't really understood - and how she'd played in something called "the Heavenly Hall" when she was littler.

While Apollo hadn't expected it to be a shack when she finally showed it to him, the rest of the Temple was more than enough to impress him.

The view, for example, was spectacular. The mountains had the rugged, untamed look that Apollo had thought he'd only see in postcards, and the one morning that Trucy had actually managed to get him up in time to see the sunrise, he'd been rendered speechless by the sight of the rosy light over the panorama. The bridge over the river was especially beautiful in the early glow of the sun. The wires and beams caught the light in such a way that the whole structure looked like it was almost on fire...

Not that either Trucy or Apollo ever really went near Dusky Bridge. Phoenix, Maya, Pearl, _and_ the nice Sisters who lived at the temple had told him to keep to _this_ side of the bridge, saying that there wasn't anything particularly interesting on the other. They even hinted that the thing had burned down several years ago, and that just made Apollo more willing to avoid it completely.

Trucy, on the other hand, more than made up for Apollo's trepidation regardless of the warnings, telling him that she'd wanted to cross the bridge ever since she was little.

Which was why Apollo was currently standing in the middle of Dusky Bridge, holding on for dear life while the thing swayed gently in the breeze.

*~*~*~*~

It had started out like any of the other days they'd already spent at the Temple, except for the fact that Trucy had decided to go for a walk right after breakfast, rather than spend the morning practicing her magic tricks like she usually did. She'd said something about seeing butterflies in the little meadow beside the bridge, she and a very interested Pearl had gone off to investigate.

When they didn't come back for lunch, though, Apollo and Phoenix had gone out to look for them. It hadn't seemed that dire at the time, but the girls weren't in the meadow. Phoenix had gone down the steps to check the Heavenly Hall - the other most likely place for them to be - and Apollo had been left staring uncomfortably at the bridge.

The worst part was, he had a feeling that she'd be over there, and even if Pearl was one of the people who'd told him not to bother with the bridge, he was fairly certain she'd follow her younger cousin across without too much hesitation...

When he saw what looked like a little white butterfly fluttering around the guard-rail about halfway across the span, Apollo's suspicions seemed a _lot_ less like speculation.

So, he'd done it. He'd stepped out onto the planks that _had_ to be sturdier than they looked - they _were_ relatively new, right? - and, clinging to the railing the whole way, he'd made it to the halfway point, much too caught up in his slight fear of heights to notice that the little butterfly wasn't really reacting to him as he got nearer...

He heard a giggle. It sounded like a girl, and he turned, ready to give Trucy the lecture of her lifetime, when the world pitched to one side, and the death grip he had on the railing loosened just enough for the wire to pop out of his hands...

He would never know if he'd screamed. He was too puzzled with what he had seen. He didn't know any redheads...

*~*~*~*~

Phoenix was a little caught up in his memories as he trudged down the almost insanely long staircase that led to the riverside. He'd asked Apollo to keep looking around the meadow, just in case they'd somehow missed the girls, hoping that the young attorney would continue to show the kind of conscientious forethought that seemed to characterize him and go back to the Main Temple if he didn't find them. Regardless of what Trucy thought might be fun, he'd warned her to stay away from the bridge enough times that he was fairly sure she wouldn't go near it. She knew all about her Daddy's little fall.

He ended up hearing the girls before he saw them. They were indeed messing around outside the Heavenly Hall, chasing butterflies just like Trucy had wanted. The sight made Phoenix smile, and he paused about three quarters of the way down the staircase, just to watch them. There had been a while when Phoenix hadn't been sure that Trucy could ever just let go and be a little girl, and whenever she _did_, it warmed his heart.

One of the butterflies they'd been chasing decided to make a break for it, and fluttered up towards the staircase. Phoenix watched its progress as it meandered through the air, almost hypnotized by the flash of its very white wings in the bright sunshine until he noticed another flash.

A flash of _red_.

There was no time for thinking. Phoenix was bolting down the stairs before he could really wrap his mind around what he'd seen. Pearl screamed when she heard the splash, but she was already racing for the stairs by the time Phoenix shouted at her to get to the phone. He had to stop himself from jumping into the river after Apollo - not in front of Trucy; he couldn't do that to her - and the three of them had run up the stairs as quickly as they could.

*~*~*~*~

Phoenix had asked a lot of questions after he'd gotten out of the hospital, and he knew where the rescue team had finally found _him_. He didn't waste any time running back to the main temple, shouting out the words he'd hoped he'd never have to say about _anyone_...

"_He's fallen in_."

No one froze. Iris pressed the keys to the Temple's ATV - their summertime alternative to the snowmobile he remembered from his first visit - into his hands, and Bikini had the First Aide kit strapped to it before he could get there. Maya ran off to the bridge to make sure that the girls were alright, and Phoenix started off at a speed that the aging machine had probably never needed to endure...

_God, let him be as lucky as I was..._

Phoenix remembered how to get to the bend in the river where they'd finally found him after his fall from the burning bridge. He'd come back almost compulsively a few times after Detective Gumshoe had shown him. He almost dove off of the ATV when he noticed a smudge of color on the grey gravel beach, and even though he lost his footing on the scree with almost every step he _couldn't_ slow down.

The first thing he had to do was drag the rest of Apollo out of the water. The young attorney had only washed half-way ashore, and even if he'd broken something, the water was freezing and the current was strong. Not moving him was risking him getting sucked back into the water...or losing him to hypothermia.

It was shortly after Phoenix had pulled him a safe distance from the water that he noticed that Apollo _wasn't breathing_.

Phoenix endured a brief moment of absolute _panic_.

_"For God's sake, Wright. You know what to do, so do it."_

It had actually been Miles' idea to take the CPR training in the first place, and as Phoenix's body started working on instinct, doing everything that he had to do to try to _force_ life back into his young friend, his completely useless mind couldn't help but wonder exactly when his long time friend had become the little rational voice in his head...

*~*~*~*~

Apollo had nearly been knocked unconscious by the impact with the water. If he hadn't been screaming before, the sudden shock of the cold drove whatever air there had been in his lungs out in a burst of bubbles, and he'd only managed to barely claw his way back to the surface to try to get some back.

From a few miles up, the Eagle River looked calm. He now knew from experience that it was just a front. The riverbed had been worn smooth and deep by eons of fast-rushing water sluicing down it, meaning that there were no rocks or rapids to mar the river's glass-like surface with foam.

The really odd thing, though, was that his life didn't flash before his eyes like he'd been told it would. He didn't see a bright light, or a tunnel...

The red-headed girl from the bridge was there. She had a parasol, and a few white butterflies seemed to hover around her shoulders while she looked at him and smiled an angelic smile that turned horrifying as the butterflies suddenly burst into flames.

Then Kristoph Gavin was there. He looked at Apollo with that same cool smile that he'd used on Apollo thousands of times before - a smile that looked a lot like the girl's, oddly enough - before that, too, turned manic, and Apollo heard the man's laughter ringing through his head like it still did in his nightmares, drowning out the roar of the river.

But the last thing he'd see before the darkness finally did swallow him whole was Klavier Gavin, in all of his Rock-God glory, smiling that kind smile that he saved for when he really _was_ happy, like when he softened up and gave Apollo a hand with a particularly difficult piece of evidence, safe in the knowledge that they were both looking for the same thing, the _truth_.

Klavier's expression didn't turn frightening. But the look of heartbreaking concern that Apollo saw right before he couldn't see _anything_ was so sad that it made _Apollo_ want to cry...

_"Please, don't go Herr Forehead. Please."_

_*~*~*~*~_

It had all seemed so final that Apollo was genuinely astounded when he woke up.

He spent a long moment just staring at the ceiling, running through the same mental checklist he'd been using since his days in foster care. Arms, check. Legs, check. Fingers and toes, ten and ten.

So far so good.

Next came the question he had only ever been able to answer properly a handful of times in his life: _Where is this?_

Looking around a little, he found that it didn't hurt to turn his neck, but he was sore all over, so he tried not to move too much. The first thing he noticed was that it was nighttime - he could tell because all of the lights were off, but no one had closed the drapes, so he could see moonlight - which was a start, and as his vision focused in a little better, he started noticing the littler, more helpful details.

There was an almost astounding amount of flowers, for one. The end of the room nearest to the door was _swamped_ with bouquets. There were even a few teddy bears sprinkled in with the foliage, and if Apollo squinted he was fairly sure one had a t-shirt emblazoned with the words '**GET WELL SOON**'. Never one to make decisions based on a single piece of evidence, he kept looking around.

He was lying in a utilitarian bed - not much help, but better than nothing - and he recognized the blanket. It was the patchwork quilt Trucy had made last fall when she'd decided to retire and replace the handkerchiefs she used in her magic act. It was gaudy and poorly sewn and _so_ Trucy that everyone that saw it loved it immediately. Apollo smiled, running his hand over a square made from blue-and-green hankie. If this was here, things couldn't be _that_ bad.

The last clue he got was a sound, rather than a sight. Little more than a moan, but enough to catch his attention in the almost complete silence of the room.

Klavier had slumped back in his chair, his head was resting back against the wall, and his clothes were rumpled, like he'd been fussing with them or hadn't changed them in a while. The moonlight glinted off of the links of his necklace when he moved, sighing a little in his sleep, and Apollo's eyes were drawn up to the blond prosecutor's face...

He was wearing the same expression of concern that Apollo had seen right before he'd gone under for the last time. It was heart-wrenching, and Apollo wanted nothing more than to see it go away for good, so he shifted a little in his bed and tried his voice.

"Klavier...?"

While what came out was nothing compared to the Chords of Steel he could usually work up, Klavier was sleeping so lightly that his head jerked up immediately, his blue eyes wide and frightened and _puzzled_ for a long moment before they met Apollo's and suddenly filled with tears.

"Apollo! _Danken sie Gott!_"

Even though his muscles protested more than a bit, having his arms full of weeping rock star-slash-prosecutor was very distracting. Klavier was talking, but he was so distressed that most of it was in German, and Apollo could only make out a general sentiment of fear and relief. As soon as the man had calmed down enough to start speaking _English_ again, he told Apollo everything he knew about how he'd fallen off of Dusky Bridge, how he'd _died_, how Phoenix had saved him by finding him before it was too late and bringing him back...

How Klavier had been an absolute _wreck_ from the moment he'd been told, how he'd delayed the Gavinners' Final Farewell Tour for as long as it would take to see Apollo well again, how _afraid_ the man had been that Apollo would never wake up again...

It got to the point where Klavier was babbling, and he was making himself upset all over again - even starting to slip back into German as he went - so Apollo did the only thing he could think of to make him stop and _breathe_.

They'd always remember that first kiss fondly, regardless of the circumstances under which it happened. And while Apollo wasn't really ready to follow up on it until a few weeks later, it just meant that by the time Apollo got out of the hospital, they'd talked and shared enough to feel like they had never been alone at all.

Klavier came with them on their next trip to Hazakura. Maya, Pearl, Bikini and Iris were all thrilled to see him, and though only Maya knew who he was, and Iris flirted outrageously with him, the fact that he came made the whole trip better for Apollo. Bringing a Rock Diva "camping" was an excellent way to keep _everyone_ too occupied to have to worry about butterflies or bridges.


End file.
